Alderley Edge Men’s 1st and 2nd teams now hold top spot in their respective divisions.
The 1st team hosted Crewe, who they had beat 5-4 in an end-to-end encounter earlier in the year. Alderley were well aware of the threat Crewe held, as they had just beaten promotion rivals Leeds scoring 5 goals in the process.
In a cagey opening Alderley dominated possession, but were unable to create clear cut chances. Raj Kay was always an outlet on the right hand side and the willingness of the Alderley front line to put in the extra yards meant Crewe did not have it easy.
Ben Gregory twisted and turned his way into the D, but could not find a teammate. Gregory and Wildig went close with efforts across the face of the goal. Warburton was unable to make the penalty corners count as Alderley became frustrated.
Crewe went close when their tricky forward had an effort cleared by Khalid Sawas but the game was goalless at half time and Alderley needed to step up their pace and attacking intent to ensure maximum reward.
Jackson again did well in only his second game and Williams was his usual combative self holding the midfield together.
The breakthrough came when on a Crewe attack the ball was won back in the midfield by Taylor and spread wide to Kay who found Sam Gregory who collected the ball up around the half way line. He beat his marker and accelerated into space, as he approached the D the defence backed off, his cross shot took a deflection, and it was enough to beat the ‘keeper.
Minutes later Crewe made Riley make his first save of the day, which was regulation. Cook fractured his hand when hit by a lifted cross, but battled on and this summed up Alderley’s effort as a workmanlike performance looked to comfortably see out time.
However, with only a minute to go Crewe were awarded a penalty corner, which resulted in two more in quick succession, each time the Alderley defence held firm and the three points and sole possession of top spot was theirs.
Sawas picked up man of the match for his fine defensive display.
The Men’s 2nd team had the short journey to Macclesfield 1s, in a top of the table clash. Alderley had a nine-point lead over their second placed hosts, both sides knowing that victory would go a long way in deciding the title.
Alderley followed up their 4-0 win from earlier in the season, with a 2-1 win. Goals coming from Sam Baker and Karim Ghazanfar. Alderley now have an 11 point lead at the top as Rhyl climbed above Macclesfield, into the second promotion place.
The Men’s 4s beat Sale 3-0 to close the gap on the leaders, the 5s are rapidly climbing their division after their third big win in a month, this time 6-1 over Chester. The 6th team sit top of their league and have two games in hand, beat Kirby Lonsdale 5-4.
This is a member post by James Riley.
